Stewart Meikle’s Bowls

Mar 11 2010 by Mairon Laird, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian Indoor Bowling Club are major contenders to lift the Scottish Cup and the record five times champions kept their challenge alive by marching into the third round with a commanding 97-58 win over Ardrossan at Whiteinch last Saturday.

The victory puts the county side in a great position to make progress in the country’s premier indoor bowling compeition of the season.

Ardrossan have enjoyed spells as a top club in the past but are currently a moderate team of Division 1 status.

In this respect, West Lothian’s win was expected however the premier league side were without ace skips Neil Speirs and George Sneddon but were still to prove too strong for their opponents from the West Coast.

Speirs was absent from the West Lothian line-up due to a training weekend as part of Scotland’s pool of players for the Commonweath Games.

Meanwhile, Sneddon was visiting foreign shores in the Far East to take up a personal invitation to play in the Hong Kong Tiger Fours.

Back at Whiteinch the vacancies in the team were filled by the drafting in of two British Isles Fours champions in the shape of Stewart Gibson and Ricky Forrest.

And there were no signs of weakness with West Lothian returning wins on all four rinks which were skipped on the day by Mark Allison, Forrest, Thomas Mann, and Calum Logan.

Ardrossan proved troublesome over the first seven-end phase of the match but the West Lothian players did enough to edge it 25-22.

The county players then steadily increased the pace and the pressure to win the second phase 33-19 then dominate the third, 39-17.

Allison sprung to life with a mighty five at the eighth end to cross 9-6.

He then included repeats at the 16th and 17th as he skipped Richard Mark James Greenock and James Speirs to a 28-12 win over D O’Rourke.

Forrest enjoyed a purple patch spell of 2, 2, 3, 2, (1), 3 to stretch into a 21-7 lead after 15-ends of his match.

And the county player and his side carried on to skip Cameron Greer Joey Strickland and Stuart Johnston to a 24-13 win over J Carswell.

Mann made heavy weather of it over the first 13-ends to trail R MacConachie 12-8 in his match.

However, the sparks began to fly in this contest with a run of 4, 3, 3, 3, 1 to cross 22-12 and he skipped his side of Paul Lynas Des Hagart and Raymond Logan to a 24-14 win.

Logan made a bright start to lead 8-3 then responded to pressure at 11-10 with a run of 2, 4, 2.

He then traded on the cushion to skip Stewart Gibson Blair Mackie and Bryan Cooper to a battling 21-19 win over Henry Pratt.

West Lothian will step up their bid for the Scottish Cup against fellow premier league side Coatbridge in the next round.

Coatbridge defeated defending champions Tweedbank in an 85-84 cliff hanger at Livingston and this set-up what will undoubtedly be the clash of the round with the West Lothian side.

Blantyre were taken right down to the wire at Bathgate but stayed alive at 73-71 at the expense of Balbardie.

East Lothian beat Stirling 97-47 to also join Lanarkshire Aberdeen Arbroath and Galleon in the next round.

WEST Lothian’s dominance at Under 35 level may be on the wane as the former champions of the New Hall Stud Scottish League Cup made a 6-2 exit on points to Edinburgh rivals Bainfield in the semi final played at Auchinleck last Sunday.

Thomas Mann suffered a heavy 24-9 defeat from the rink skipped by Paul O’Donnell while Bryan Cooper and James Speirs went down 18-13 and 15-14 to Jamie Gracie and Gavin Smith respectively.

West Lothian enjoyed one success with Calum Logan skipping Calum Black Dougie Mitchell and Blair Mackie to a good 27-17 win over Stevie McLeod.

JAMES Speirs produced an eye-catching performance in the ongoing Singles championship at West Lothian Indoor Bowling Club and progressed at the 21-16 expense of former champion George Sneddon.

The final of the Triples championship was a triumph for the trio of George Marshall Brian Holloran and Davie Anderson built up a head of steam from peels at 8 and stormed to a 21-11 win over Ged Borge John Lynas and Paul Lynas.

WEST Lothian Indoor Bowling Club are double-handed in the British Isles Championships which are being staged at Perth over this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with Angela Uttley and Wendy Purdie representing Scotland in the Pairs and linking up with clubmates Irene Taylor and Jennifer Sneddon to target the Fours title.

The men’s international series playing today, tomorrow, and Saturday launches the Festival of Bowls at the Dewars Centre with George Sneddon, Neil Speirs and Thomas Mann part of the Scotland team.

The championship spectacular climaxes with the ladies international series following on over next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The West Lothian interest in the Scotland team centres on Uttley and Purdie from West Lothian IBC and Lorraine Malloy and Sharon Leitch of Balbardie.